Competent authorities must register third‑country auditors and audit entities that provide audit reports on annual or consolidated financial statements, or, where applicable, assurance reports on annual or consolidated sustainability reporting, for undertakings incorporated outside the Union whose transferable securities are admitted to trading on a Member State regulated market. Exemptions apply for issuers exclusively of certain high‑denomination debt securities. Articles 18 and 19 apply. Registered third‑country auditors and entities are subject to Member State oversight, quality assurance and investigation and penalties; a quality assurance exemption is permitted where an equivalent system has reviewed the firm in the previous three years. Audit or assurance reports from unregistered third‑country auditors or entities have no legal effect in the Member State.

Registration conditions require equivalence of the majority of the administrative or management body and of the auditor to Articles 4 to 10 (with specified exceptions), performance of audits under international auditing standards (Article 26) and applicable requirements (Articles 22, 22b and 25), publication of an annual transparency report or equivalent, and analogous requirements for sustainability assurance under Article 26a and Articles 22, 22b, 25 and 25b. Member States may register individual auditors subject to key points. A transitional registration regime (financial years starting 1 Jan 2025 to 31 Dec 2030) allows registration for sustainability assurance where specified information is provided to the competent authority; absence of that information precludes registration. The Commission is empowered to adopt implementing acts on equivalence and delegated acts establishing general equivalence criteria.